Armed Man Leaves Van After Standoff

February 27, 1989

NEWPORT NEWS — City police used tear gas to flush an armed man from a van that had crashed and overturned along Interstate 64 in Denbigh early today.

Martin Luther King, 41, of Berlin, Md., surrendered about 4:30 a.m., said city police Sgt. Art Nolan. King left the van shortly after the tear gas was fired, which was about two hours after police had surrounded the area, Nolan said.

Nolan said the incident began after a trucker radioed a state trooper that he had seen a man standing along the highway and firing a shotgun into the air. The eastbound van had crashed about one mile west of Denbigh Boulevard.

"When the trooper arrived, he saw a man sitting on the overturned van with a shotgun on his lap," Nolan said. When Trooper Melvin Lewis approached, King slipped into the van through a window, Nolan said.

The trooper then radioed for backup support that included the Newport News Police Tactical Unit, Nolan said.

State Police closed both eastbound and westbound lanes of the interstate and rerouted traffic onto Jefferson Avenue and Warwick Boulevard while officers negotiated with King.

King did not fire any shots at the officers, Nolan said, but when he refused to surrender, police fired tear gas into the van. King was captured immediately.

State Police charged King with reckless driving, but Nolan said he could face other charges. Police found a spent shotgun shell near the van, but the tear gas prevented officers from immediately retrieving the 12-gauge shotgun.